


Waiting. Watching.

by xbedhead



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Josh/Donna (implied but not really), post-gaza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 07:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18006806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xbedhead/pseuds/xbedhead
Summary: A phone call between the Chief of Staff and his Deputy as the latter waits for Donna to wake following her emergency surgery after the Gaza attack.





	Waiting. Watching.

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to write this drabble after watching 6x01 _NSF Thurmont_ , when Leo mentions to President Bartlet that when he’d been speaking to Josh about Donna, Josh was pretty shaken up. 
> 
> I love that we get to see little snippets of the hospital waiting period. It’s a painful, painful few days for Josh for more than a few reasons, but I felt that Colin’s presence and his ability to be so free and nonchalant about being with Donna, his feelings for other women, his outlook on life – it’s a sharp contrast to how restricted Josh has to conduct himself most of the time. Anyway, just a short little piece. 
> 
> Unbeta’d and would love to know what you think.

“ _Leo_.”

“Hey, kid. What’s goin’ on? How’s she doin’?”

Leo is scribbling notes in the margin of the draft agenda for the peace accord, waiting for the latest update on Donna.

“She’s, uh…she’s…th-they, uh…I don’t really – they said she – ”

Leo stops writing. “Josh? What’s happening?”

He hears Josh clear his throat and draw in a deep, but shaky breath through his nose. The line is crystal clear, even though they’re over 4,000 miles away. There’s several seconds of dead air, but Leo can hear enough commotion in the background – hospital noises – that he knows Josh is still on the line.

“Joshua,” he prompts gently, steeling himself for what he believes he’ll hear next.

“Leo, she’s…they had to take her to surgery. She had a…she had a… _damnit_.”

Leo pulls his head back from the handset sharply, trying to escape the loud clattering noise on the other end. A second later, Josh is back, apologizing.

“I’m sorry. I dropped the – sorry, Leo.”

“It’s _fine_. What in the hell is going on with Donna?” Leo demands, unnerved by how Josh can’t seem to get the words out.

He’s already assuming the worst; he’s never heard his Deputy so shaken – not even when his father had passed. Then again, while Noah's sudden death had been a shock to everyone, with his illness there was always a high chance of complications.

“She had a pulmonary embolism, Leo.”

Josh’s voice breaks with the revelation and Leo feels his breath catch in his throat.

_No. Not this. Not again._

“They took her to surgery and she had some complications. They said…they said she lost a lot of blood and that…the oxygen wasn’t…that she might have brain damage.”

Leo shifts his chair away from his desk, turning so he can rest his elbows on his knees.

_Brain damage._

“But she’s alive?” he asks somberly.

He hears Josh sniff loudly and Leo knows that he’s trying to hold it together with everything that he has.

“ _Yeah_.”

Josh’s reply comes with a harsh expulsion of air and Leo is surprised at the sudden heat he feels behind his eyes. He’s a consummate professional, but it’s hard to work side by side with people for seven-plus years and not develop intense feelings of friendship and camaraderie.

“She’s still asleep,” Josh supplies after a few moments of quiet. “We’re waiting for her to wake up and they’ll…do some tests, I guess.”

His voice sounds stronger, though no less on edge.

“Okay _._ Hey, kid?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Hold it together over there, all right?”

Josh attempts to clear his throat several times before answering, “Yes, sir.”

“ _Josh_.”

“…I will, Leo.”

Satisfied that this is the best he’ll get out of him, Leo relents with a nod. “Okay. Keep us posted.”

“Yes, sir.”

Leo ends the call with a sigh. He rubs his eyes harshly and takes a deep breath.

“Was that…is Donna okay, Leo?”

He looks up quickly to see Margaret standing in the middle of the room, arms full of files, face blanched and eyes wide with concern. He doesn’t have the heart to scold her for scaring him, for eavesdropping – they all care deeply about what happens to Donna.

He nods quickly, composing himself. “There were some complications and she had to have emergency surgery. She’s not outta the woods yet.”

He deliberately keeps it vague. He loves Margaret with an intense affection, but wants to maintain a bit of Donna’s privacy – and he knows his Assistant like the back of his hand.

Margaret nods once, with resolution, and Leo can tell she’s trying to maintain her composure. When she sets the files on the desk, Leo asks her for the outcome briefs they’d worked up on two potential appropriations bills last week. He doesn’t need them, but it’s something for her to focus on for a moment.

It’s only when she steps out that it occurs to him that Josh didn’t even ask about Camp David.


End file.
